9 ms·

Watches from the Soviet Union

145 points by gscott 5y ago

dvh 5y ago
I had Vostok watches with jet fighter and crunchy adjustable outer diving rim, they ran 5 minutes earlier every day. I also had small gray watches with black metal band that just said "quartz" and "sdelano v sssr" and they were off by 1s per month, entire family set time from me.
- axaxs 5y ago
  If you're serious about mechanical watches or have a small addiction like me, I'd highly recommend buying an old school timegrapher and regulating(link below). I have a rather ridiculous collection of Orients, and some were off by minutes a day from the factory. Just the nature of them, I guess. I would just offer to regulate them for other people, but I've scratched enough casebacks to never feel comfortable in that. Link to example timegrapher: https://www.amazon.com/OTOOLWORLD-Tester-Multifunction-Timegrapher-NO-1000/dp/B0081SSJZG https://www.amazon.com/OTOOLWORLD-Tester-Multifunction-Timeg...
diab0lic 5y ago
I’ve got a Poljot de luxe that was made for export (English text on the dial) from the 70s. I am pretty impressed with it on the overall - for the time it’s very thin, reasonably accurate and has an elegant timeless look to it. > He believes that mechanical watches were created by the best minds of 18th and 19th centuries. "Many modern watchmakers admit that we will never match them," he adds I think there is some pretty innovative stuff coming out of Japan right now. The high accuracy quartz models from Seiko (under the Grand Seiko brand) and Citizen have insane accuracy measured in seconds per year. Of course if you want to limit the discussion to the mechanical realm the Spring Drive is for all intents and purposes a mechanical watch with an electromagnetic quartz feedback loop slowing the unwinding to the correct pace to keep time. Not as accurate as the full quartz but very impressive and it truly glides (instead of ticking).
- growt 5y ago
  "right now" is relative, grand Seiko started in 1967 and the spring drive was invented in the 90s. I think in the age of smartphones, internet and gps time innovation regarding high precision independent time keeping almost stopped.
  - diab0lic 5y ago
    Right now being in contrast to the 18th and 19th century mentioned in the quote I was responding to from the article. Between quartz and the spring drive hybridization I would argue that great innovation has come since the 18th and 19th century and watchmakers from Japan have “matched them”. That said I do agree with you that in today’s world innovation in high precision independent time keeping has stopped. A radio controlled relatively accurate quartz watch will keep excellent time with no user intervention over many years.
  - hellbannedguy 5y ago
    It's still there, but certainly died down after the invention of quartz time keeping. My hope is consumers start demanding the availability of parts when buying a high end watch though. It's a good feeling knowing you can repair that hunk of metal on your wrist, with interest, and a fair amount of study. (There was a guy in the Navy whos boat was torpedoed by the Japanese during WW2. He, and rest of the crew were stuck on a deserted island. One by one the sailors watches were breaking down. Since he was a Watchmaker in life, he took over repair. At first it was difficult. He then got creative and made small screwdrivers, and even made a lathe. Anyhoo--I thought that was neat. A guy fixing jeweled watches with tools he made himself in that enviornment. I saw the article years ago, but haven't been able to find it again.)
    - medstrom 5y ago
      >It's a good feeling knowing you can repair that hunk of metal on your wrist, with interest, and a fair amount of study. That... goes for everything, software included. But watches being something of a Veblen good [1], wouldn't availability of parts just make consumers realize that actually this $700 watch is practically no different from that $70 watch? They wouldn't want to sell parts for that reason, I think. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good
stevekemp 5y ago
If you like Soviet watches you'll probably enjoy this index of movements: https://17jewels.info/ https://17jewels.info/ I collect mechanical watches and have a fair number of vintage Soviet watches in my collection - Rateka, Vostok, Poljot, etc. Cheap, reliable, and often with striking designs. (Today's watch is a Poljot - Russian: Полёт, literally meaning "flight", is a brand of Soviet/Russian wristwatches, produced since 1964 by the First Moscow Watch Factory. Poljot produced numerous historical watches used in many important space missions, including the world's first space watch worn by Yuri Gagarin.) I don't think I've ever had a stranger complicate my watch when I've been wearing a Rolex, or something high-end, unless the person making the comment was also wearing one. But I get weekly comments on the cheap and cheerful watches. Even now, in pandemic times, I still put on a watch every morning, and it still makes me smile. If smart-watches had batteries that lasted for a few weeks or more I might be tempted, but until then I'll stick with mechanical watches. (And one Casio terrorist watch, just for completeness!)
- galangalalgol 5y ago
  That casio keeps super time if you leave it on your desk in a large climate controlled building. Like HAQ quality. Do you have any of the single hand watches from raketa? Always wanted one but didnt like the shape.
  - stevekemp 5y ago
    No, I've avoided the 24hour watches I appreciate their design, but they're just too hard to read in a hurry. I'm flexible on digits vs. markers, (e.g. the piece I'm wearing today has numerals at 2, 6, and 10). But I stick to two/three hand watches.
  - eps 5y ago
    I don't have Raketa, but I have one of Botta Uno series. It is super inconvenient to read. If you are planning to actually use a single-handed watch for telling you time (rather than just adding it to a collection), I would very atrongly advise against it.
- ttesttom 5y ago
f430 5y ago
One man's garbage is another man's treasure. I absolutely relish these niches, have a bit of a Sovietphilia
dijit 5y ago
I had a Vostok movement watch. It lost 10 minutes every day. Hard to recommend such a watch honestly.
- huhtenberg 5y ago
  This largely sums up the Soviet watch industry. Low tech, low cost with virtually no design value except when it's so completely off than that in itself becomes notable. They are still collectable, because some watches are rare, it's just that they aren't very ... exciting or interesting.
  - moolcool 5y ago
    Soviet watches are sometimes rough, but if they're properly regulated they can definitely keep very good time.
- hansor 5y ago
  Did you adjust it? Most Vostok watches have small internal "thing" to adjust - worked for me (had the same problem).
  - dijit 5y ago
    I took it to two watchmakers/maintainers in London to no avail. Though they might not know what they’re looking at.
    - hansor 5y ago
      I can't show you my mechanism as its "sealed-out", but it is tiny winder that you move between -45* and +45*, you need very tiny screwdriver to manipulate it right or left. Also it my case i observed that i have better accuracy when NOT winding the main mechanism to the maximum.
- moolcool 5y ago
  I've got a Vostok Amphibia, and when I got it off ebay it was extremely slow. I took it to get regulated and now it's almost dead-on (+/-few seconds a day).
hansor 5y ago
I have one of such working watch, with Lenin face and goldish plate as my daily watch. They are amazing pieces of history. Those watches do not need battery power, and this is super amazing in era of computers and internet. Just spring and muscle, perfect for post apocalyptic world.
- baybal2 5y ago
  Such history must be erased. A shame, and indignity must be forgotten lest you want somebody to say that it wasn't, and pick it as its banner. The world was very judicious in being uncompromising in stomping out every bit, and part of third reich, and Tojo's militarism. That's why you don't have a world war 3, and next populists in line coming shouting "make Germany great again" Unfortunately, the world has not finished this business completely, and now we have no shortage of historical revisionists wanting to take a revanche on the Post-War-World, promising "great old times" again.
  - hansor 5y ago
    >Such history must be erased. Why? Erasing history is biggest of all evil. Even if you believe in "never again" doctrine. History should be preserved - friends or foes, otherwise we will end up with pure propaganda regrading "old times". In my case: I'm socialist so i can see multiple benefits of Bolshevik revolution and its impact on let's say modern labor law, or things like maternity leave(not is US). Same goes towards great evil during Stalin era.
throwaway12319 5y ago
The 24 hour dial watches are wonderful. The hour dial really gives a more visceral feeling of the passage of time, much like a sundial. https://24hourtime.info/ https://24hourtime.info/
- throwawayboise 5y ago
  Thanks for posting that... I've always sort of idly wanted a 24-hour analog watch. I have my phone set to 24 hour time representation because it has eliminated the problem of me setting a meeting or alarm for 9pm when I meant 9am.
  - snthd 5y ago
    There's an Android app/widget of a 24 hour clockface (complete be with daylight shading) - https://www.f-droid.org/en/packages/info.staticfree.android.twentyfourhour/ https://www.f-droid.org/en/packages/info.staticfree.android....
dieselerator 5y ago
There is a discussion forum on the topic of Russian watches, including one dedicated to photos of the various brands and models. Russian watches <https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/russian-watches.10/ https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/russian-watches.10/> Russian Watches Image Gallery <https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/image-gallery.97/ https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/image-gallery.97/>
s5300 5y ago
Pobeda Troika is one of my favorites
wdb 5y ago
Yeah, I still want a Soviet Union watch. There also some old Chinese Seagull watches that look great. I have a small collection of watches (only have 19). They sparkle joy :) I have a Apple Watch (1st gen) but never really liked it I keep going back to the mechanical watches.My latest addition is the gorgeous 1815 Moonphase
- Ancapistani 5y ago
  Heh - I have three watches that I regularly wear. By far my favorite and primary is a Maratac “mid-Pilot”. It’s a simple Miyota (Citizen) movement, but completely unbranded and reliable. My other two are a Vostok Retro 1934 and a Seagull 1963 :)
  - wdb 5y ago
    Seagull 1963 is a nice watch! Looks a bit like one of my grandfather's watches
- p00dles 5y ago
  The 1815 Moonphase is absolutely gorgeous - do you have any recommendations for similar moonphase watches for a first-time watch buyer, under $1000?
  - wdb 5y ago
    Personally, I started with a Longines Moonphase watch and a Maurice Lacroix. The former is probably easier to find for $1000. I still think while way its over your budget the JLC moon phase are beautiful too
    - p00dles 5y ago
      Awesome! Thank you. I also ran across a few companies that make a Valjoux 7768 Moonphase, also looks nice and seems within budget.
      - 5y ago
supernova87a 5y ago
I don't know if it applies to Soviet watches, but somewhere I read that the problem with Soviet cameras (Kiev, fake Hasselblad etc.) was not the design but the consistency of the manufacturing and quality control. On certain days/shifts you could get an amazing machine, on others, total crap.
- anta40 5y ago
  I have some experiences with few Kiev cameras. - Kiev rangefinders (2A, 3A) which are the Contax rangefinders copies. Overall they are pretty solid (build-quality wise probably the best, compared to FED/Zorki/...). The lenses are charming, too. - Kiev 88, which are the Hasselblad copy. Only tried 2 or 3, and all of them have the usual light leak, irregular frame spacings etc issues. +1 on manufacturing consistency/quality control. Shooting with Soviet cameras is fun when they are working properly. But if you are willing to spend a bit bigger cash, pick Japanese gears instead (Nikon, Bronica, Mamiya etc). Their built quality, overall, are better.
- alfiedotwtf 5y ago
  Sounds a bit like Japanese synthesizers vs US synthesizers in the 80s... the US synths had unstable oscillators and would always drift, even to the point where bands would have multiple on stage waiting for the currently playing synth to go wonky before being swapped out with one on the side lines.
contrarian_5 5y ago
its strange how soviet union stuff is a fetish for coastal people but you never see much nazi stuff. the soviets murdered more people than the nazis and they are objectively evil. but that detail is simply lost somehow.
- s5300 5y ago
  .
  - contrarian_5 5y ago
    yes, exactly. everyone is very quick to point out how evil the united states is. but there is no public reaction about the soviet union in which millions upon millions of people were deliberately murdered. more people than the nazis and the united states. i point out the absence of objectivity when i see it because i am a good citizen.
    - bellyfullofbac 5y ago
      What if you separated the doings of the nations' leaders and military from what this is, a discussion about old school technology in the form of watches? One presumes the watchmakers didn't run gulags in their spare times. Do you show up in discussions of 60's muscle cars and moan about the USA dropping nuclear bombs in Japan? I was wondering what sort of "good citizen" has this username and spouts this... stuff, so I checked your profile. You wrote previously: > my peers seemed super petty and intellectually average. easily pulled into dogmatic, fuzzy ideas. Your peers, you say... At least learn to capitalize your sentences!
    - Can_Not 5y ago
      >but there is no public reaction about the soviet union There's literally non-stop public reaction against the Soviet Union, a country that stopped existing 30 years ago, especially in threads like this that are completely non-political. Case in point, you, congrats on being the first person who thinks watch connoisseurs are committing wronkthink by talking about watches. You need a chrome/FF extension that adds to every comment an extra sentence like: - "I disagree with Stalinist grain policies" - "The Soviet Union murdered millions" - "I think the Ukrainians are right to complain about the USSR" - "They were too many gulags if you think about it" - "But of the course, the Soviet Union was bad" - "Stalin? No, I disavow him" Then you don't have to derail a thread about watches to defend the Nazis and United States from the ghost of Stalin.
SeanLuke 5y ago
I have been told the following joke multiple times by former Iron Curtain denizens: Soviet citizen 1: Look at my new watch! Made right here! Soviet citizen 2: It's so beautiful, elegant, and small! Soviet citizen 1 [picking up two large, dense boxes by their handles, one per hand] : Yeah, but these are the batteries it runs on.
- betaby 5y ago
  You are referring to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nJh6RH3bzw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nJh6RH3bzw
dukeofdoom 5y ago
They made some awesome lenses too.
doggodaddo78 5y ago
I have a Soviet marriage watch remade all except the back case and movement in Eastern Europe that has a blindfolded, collared, naked girl face on it. Even my regular, super by-the-book post office lady thought it was awesome.
nimbius 5y ago
I fully recommend a Vostok, from the original factory in Chistopol. Their mechanical selection is affordable and bulletproof, if not somewhat overstated in its design. https://meranom.com/en/ https://meranom.com/en/
- Ancapistani 5y ago
  One of the three watches I regularly wear is a Vostok Retro 1934, from Meranom. If anyone is shopping, I’ll happily vouch for Meranom.
RugnirViking 5y ago
Recently was reading about a rocket explosion in Baikonur in which the chief engineer was killed. The document stated that the only remains that could be found of him was a small amount of melted gold embedded in the ground from one of his medals, and his watch, which had survived whole

145 points by gscott 5y ago

dvh 5y ago

I had Vostok watches with jet fighter and crunchy adjustable outer diving rim, they ran 5 minutes earlier every day. I also had small gray watches with black metal band that just said "quartz" and "sdelano v sssr" and they were off by 1s per month, entire family set time from me.

axaxs 5y ago
If you're serious about mechanical watches or have a small addiction like me, I'd highly recommend buying an old school timegrapher and regulating(link below). I have a rather ridiculous collection of Orients, and some were off by minutes a day from the factory. Just the nature of them, I guess. I would just offer to regulate them for other people, but I've scratched enough casebacks to never feel comfortable in that. Link to example timegrapher: https://www.amazon.com/OTOOLWORLD-Tester-Multifunction-Timegrapher-NO-1000/dp/B0081SSJZG https://www.amazon.com/OTOOLWORLD-Tester-Multifunction-Timeg...

diab0lic 5y ago

I’ve got a Poljot de luxe that was made for export (English text on the dial) from the 70s. I am pretty impressed with it on the overall - for the time it’s very thin, reasonably accurate and has an elegant timeless look to it. > He believes that mechanical watches were created by the best minds of 18th and 19th centuries. "Many modern watchmakers admit that we will never match them," he adds I think there is some pretty innovative stuff coming out of Japan right now. The high accuracy quartz models from Seiko (under the Grand Seiko brand) and Citizen have insane accuracy measured in seconds per year. Of course if you want to limit the discussion to the mechanical realm the Spring Drive is for all intents and purposes a mechanical watch with an electromagnetic quartz feedback loop slowing the unwinding to the correct pace to keep time. Not as accurate as the full quartz but very impressive and it truly glides (instead of ticking).

growt 5y ago
"right now" is relative, grand Seiko started in 1967 and the spring drive was invented in the 90s. I think in the age of smartphones, internet and gps time innovation regarding high precision independent time keeping almost stopped.
- diab0lic 5y ago
  Right now being in contrast to the 18th and 19th century mentioned in the quote I was responding to from the article. Between quartz and the spring drive hybridization I would argue that great innovation has come since the 18th and 19th century and watchmakers from Japan have “matched them”. That said I do agree with you that in today’s world innovation in high precision independent time keeping has stopped. A radio controlled relatively accurate quartz watch will keep excellent time with no user intervention over many years.
- hellbannedguy 5y ago
  It's still there, but certainly died down after the invention of quartz time keeping. My hope is consumers start demanding the availability of parts when buying a high end watch though. It's a good feeling knowing you can repair that hunk of metal on your wrist, with interest, and a fair amount of study. (There was a guy in the Navy whos boat was torpedoed by the Japanese during WW2. He, and rest of the crew were stuck on a deserted island. One by one the sailors watches were breaking down. Since he was a Watchmaker in life, he took over repair. At first it was difficult. He then got creative and made small screwdrivers, and even made a lathe. Anyhoo--I thought that was neat. A guy fixing jeweled watches with tools he made himself in that enviornment. I saw the article years ago, but haven't been able to find it again.)
  - medstrom 5y ago
    >It's a good feeling knowing you can repair that hunk of metal on your wrist, with interest, and a fair amount of study. That... goes for everything, software included. But watches being something of a Veblen good [1], wouldn't availability of parts just make consumers realize that actually this $700 watch is practically no different from that $70 watch? They wouldn't want to sell parts for that reason, I think. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veblen_good

stevekemp 5y ago

If you like Soviet watches you'll probably enjoy this index of movements: https://17jewels.info/ https://17jewels.info/ I collect mechanical watches and have a fair number of vintage Soviet watches in my collection - Rateka, Vostok, Poljot, etc. Cheap, reliable, and often with striking designs. (Today's watch is a Poljot - Russian: Полёт, literally meaning "flight", is a brand of Soviet/Russian wristwatches, produced since 1964 by the First Moscow Watch Factory. Poljot produced numerous historical watches used in many important space missions, including the world's first space watch worn by Yuri Gagarin.) I don't think I've ever had a stranger complicate my watch when I've been wearing a Rolex, or something high-end, unless the person making the comment was also wearing one. But I get weekly comments on the cheap and cheerful watches. Even now, in pandemic times, I still put on a watch every morning, and it still makes me smile. If smart-watches had batteries that lasted for a few weeks or more I might be tempted, but until then I'll stick with mechanical watches. (And one Casio terrorist watch, just for completeness!)

galangalalgol 5y ago
That casio keeps super time if you leave it on your desk in a large climate controlled building. Like HAQ quality. Do you have any of the single hand watches from raketa? Always wanted one but didnt like the shape.
- stevekemp 5y ago
  No, I've avoided the 24hour watches I appreciate their design, but they're just too hard to read in a hurry. I'm flexible on digits vs. markers, (e.g. the piece I'm wearing today has numerals at 2, 6, and 10). But I stick to two/three hand watches.
- eps 5y ago
  I don't have Raketa, but I have one of Botta Uno series. It is super inconvenient to read. If you are planning to actually use a single-handed watch for telling you time (rather than just adding it to a collection), I would very atrongly advise against it.
ttesttom 5y ago

f430 5y ago

One man's garbage is another man's treasure. I absolutely relish these niches, have a bit of a Sovietphilia

dijit 5y ago

I had a Vostok movement watch. It lost 10 minutes every day. Hard to recommend such a watch honestly.

huhtenberg 5y ago
This largely sums up the Soviet watch industry. Low tech, low cost with virtually no design value except when it's so completely off than that in itself becomes notable. They are still collectable, because some watches are rare, it's just that they aren't very ... exciting or interesting.
- moolcool 5y ago
  Soviet watches are sometimes rough, but if they're properly regulated they can definitely keep very good time.
hansor 5y ago
Did you adjust it? Most Vostok watches have small internal "thing" to adjust - worked for me (had the same problem).
- dijit 5y ago
  I took it to two watchmakers/maintainers in London to no avail. Though they might not know what they’re looking at.
  - hansor 5y ago
    I can't show you my mechanism as its "sealed-out", but it is tiny winder that you move between -45* and +45*, you need very tiny screwdriver to manipulate it right or left. Also it my case i observed that i have better accuracy when NOT winding the main mechanism to the maximum.
moolcool 5y ago
I've got a Vostok Amphibia, and when I got it off ebay it was extremely slow. I took it to get regulated and now it's almost dead-on (+/-few seconds a day).

hansor 5y ago

I have one of such working watch, with Lenin face and goldish plate as my daily watch. They are amazing pieces of history. Those watches do not need battery power, and this is super amazing in era of computers and internet. Just spring and muscle, perfect for post apocalyptic world.

baybal2 5y ago
Such history must be erased. A shame, and indignity must be forgotten lest you want somebody to say that it wasn't, and pick it as its banner. The world was very judicious in being uncompromising in stomping out every bit, and part of third reich, and Tojo's militarism. That's why you don't have a world war 3, and next populists in line coming shouting "make Germany great again" Unfortunately, the world has not finished this business completely, and now we have no shortage of historical revisionists wanting to take a revanche on the Post-War-World, promising "great old times" again.
- hansor 5y ago
  >Such history must be erased. Why? Erasing history is biggest of all evil. Even if you believe in "never again" doctrine. History should be preserved - friends or foes, otherwise we will end up with pure propaganda regrading "old times". In my case: I'm socialist so i can see multiple benefits of Bolshevik revolution and its impact on let's say modern labor law, or things like maternity leave(not is US). Same goes towards great evil during Stalin era.

throwaway12319 5y ago

The 24 hour dial watches are wonderful. The hour dial really gives a more visceral feeling of the passage of time, much like a sundial. https://24hourtime.info/ https://24hourtime.info/

throwawayboise 5y ago
Thanks for posting that... I've always sort of idly wanted a 24-hour analog watch. I have my phone set to 24 hour time representation because it has eliminated the problem of me setting a meeting or alarm for 9pm when I meant 9am.
- snthd 5y ago
  There's an Android app/widget of a 24 hour clockface (complete be with daylight shading) - https://www.f-droid.org/en/packages/info.staticfree.android.twentyfourhour/ https://www.f-droid.org/en/packages/info.staticfree.android....

dieselerator 5y ago

There is a discussion forum on the topic of Russian watches, including one dedicated to photos of the various brands and models. Russian watches <https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/russian-watches.10/ https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/russian-watches.10/> Russian Watches Image Gallery <https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/image-gallery.97/ https://www.watchuseek.com/forums/image-gallery.97/>

s5300 5y ago

Pobeda Troika is one of my favorites

wdb 5y ago

Yeah, I still want a Soviet Union watch. There also some old Chinese Seagull watches that look great. I have a small collection of watches (only have 19). They sparkle joy :) I have a Apple Watch (1st gen) but never really liked it I keep going back to the mechanical watches.My latest addition is the gorgeous 1815 Moonphase

Ancapistani 5y ago
Heh - I have three watches that I regularly wear. By far my favorite and primary is a Maratac “mid-Pilot”. It’s a simple Miyota (Citizen) movement, but completely unbranded and reliable. My other two are a Vostok Retro 1934 and a Seagull 1963 :)
- wdb 5y ago
  Seagull 1963 is a nice watch! Looks a bit like one of my grandfather's watches
p00dles 5y ago
The 1815 Moonphase is absolutely gorgeous - do you have any recommendations for similar moonphase watches for a first-time watch buyer, under $1000?
- wdb 5y ago
  Personally, I started with a Longines Moonphase watch and a Maurice Lacroix. The former is probably easier to find for $1000. I still think while way its over your budget the JLC moon phase are beautiful too
  - p00dles 5y ago
    Awesome! Thank you. I also ran across a few companies that make a Valjoux 7768 Moonphase, also looks nice and seems within budget.
    - 5y ago

supernova87a 5y ago

I don't know if it applies to Soviet watches, but somewhere I read that the problem with Soviet cameras (Kiev, fake Hasselblad etc.) was not the design but the consistency of the manufacturing and quality control. On certain days/shifts you could get an amazing machine, on others, total crap.

anta40 5y ago
I have some experiences with few Kiev cameras. - Kiev rangefinders (2A, 3A) which are the Contax rangefinders copies. Overall they are pretty solid (build-quality wise probably the best, compared to FED/Zorki/...). The lenses are charming, too. - Kiev 88, which are the Hasselblad copy. Only tried 2 or 3, and all of them have the usual light leak, irregular frame spacings etc issues. +1 on manufacturing consistency/quality control. Shooting with Soviet cameras is fun when they are working properly. But if you are willing to spend a bit bigger cash, pick Japanese gears instead (Nikon, Bronica, Mamiya etc). Their built quality, overall, are better.
alfiedotwtf 5y ago
Sounds a bit like Japanese synthesizers vs US synthesizers in the 80s... the US synths had unstable oscillators and would always drift, even to the point where bands would have multiple on stage waiting for the currently playing synth to go wonky before being swapped out with one on the side lines.

contrarian_5 5y ago

its strange how soviet union stuff is a fetish for coastal people but you never see much nazi stuff. the soviets murdered more people than the nazis and they are objectively evil. but that detail is simply lost somehow.

s5300 5y ago
.
- contrarian_5 5y ago
  yes, exactly. everyone is very quick to point out how evil the united states is. but there is no public reaction about the soviet union in which millions upon millions of people were deliberately murdered. more people than the nazis and the united states. i point out the absence of objectivity when i see it because i am a good citizen.
  - bellyfullofbac 5y ago
    What if you separated the doings of the nations' leaders and military from what this is, a discussion about old school technology in the form of watches? One presumes the watchmakers didn't run gulags in their spare times. Do you show up in discussions of 60's muscle cars and moan about the USA dropping nuclear bombs in Japan? I was wondering what sort of "good citizen" has this username and spouts this... stuff, so I checked your profile. You wrote previously: > my peers seemed super petty and intellectually average. easily pulled into dogmatic, fuzzy ideas. Your peers, you say... At least learn to capitalize your sentences!
  - Can_Not 5y ago
    >but there is no public reaction about the soviet union There's literally non-stop public reaction against the Soviet Union, a country that stopped existing 30 years ago, especially in threads like this that are completely non-political. Case in point, you, congrats on being the first person who thinks watch connoisseurs are committing wronkthink by talking about watches. You need a chrome/FF extension that adds to every comment an extra sentence like: - "I disagree with Stalinist grain policies" - "The Soviet Union murdered millions" - "I think the Ukrainians are right to complain about the USSR" - "They were too many gulags if you think about it" - "But of the course, the Soviet Union was bad" - "Stalin? No, I disavow him" Then you don't have to derail a thread about watches to defend the Nazis and United States from the ghost of Stalin.

SeanLuke 5y ago

I have been told the following joke multiple times by former Iron Curtain denizens: Soviet citizen 1: Look at my new watch! Made right here! Soviet citizen 2: It's so beautiful, elegant, and small! Soviet citizen 1 [picking up two large, dense boxes by their handles, one per hand] : Yeah, but these are the batteries it runs on.

betaby 5y ago
You are referring to this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nJh6RH3bzw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nJh6RH3bzw

dukeofdoom 5y ago

They made some awesome lenses too.

doggodaddo78 5y ago

I have a Soviet marriage watch remade all except the back case and movement in Eastern Europe that has a blindfolded, collared, naked girl face on it. Even my regular, super by-the-book post office lady thought it was awesome.

nimbius 5y ago

I fully recommend a Vostok, from the original factory in Chistopol. Their mechanical selection is affordable and bulletproof, if not somewhat overstated in its design. https://meranom.com/en/ https://meranom.com/en/

Ancapistani 5y ago
One of the three watches I regularly wear is a Vostok Retro 1934, from Meranom. If anyone is shopping, I’ll happily vouch for Meranom.

RugnirViking 5y ago

Recently was reading about a rocket explosion in Baikonur in which the chief engineer was killed. The document stated that the only remains that could be found of him was a small amount of melted gold embedded in the ground from one of his medals, and his watch, which had survived whole